In the Victorian era, it was not uncommon for writers to turn to fiction as a means of escapism for what was really going on in England during their time. Lewis Carroll’s novella The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland is a great example of fiction as escapism because Carroll takes a psychological approach in order to highlight the oppression of Victorian women occurring in the mid to late nineteenth century. Carroll critiques society’s viewpoint on gender roles through the portrayal of his unconventional female characters and by only allowing Alice to express her conscious thoughts on gender through her unconscious dreams, this later reveals a level of childhood trauma present in Alice.
Alice's Unconscious View of Gender Roles
Alice’s encounters with the three female characters in the novel are significant because each character does not embody the typical stereotype of Victorian women during this time. Rather, Alice is exposed to unconventional gender roles of women, and this provides a means of escapism for Alice to redefine these roles.
The first female character that Alice comes into contact with is the Duchess. Carroll portrays the Duchess as an aggressive and unloving mother, who’s baby is nothing but an annoyance to her. This is proven by the song that the Duchess sings to the baby, “Speak roughly to your little boy, and beat him when he sneezes: He only does it to annoy, because he knows that it teases” (Carroll Chapter 6). The Duchess is not only aggressive towards her son, but to Alice herself who is also a young child. The Duchess eventually hands over the child to Alice as the Duchess can not be bothered to take on the motherly role. While Alice spends a short time with the child, she “felt quite relieved to see it trot away quietly into the wood” after the baby turned into a pig (Carroll Chapter 6). The fact that Alice feels no sympathy for the baby and is relieved to see him go, can be interpreted as Alice not wanting to conform to the obligation of motherhood that she is expected to abide by one day.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Illustration from John Tenniel, published in 1865.
The next female character that Alice observes is the Cook who functions as the Duchess’s maid. The Cook, who is pictured in the background with the Duchess, is the exact opposite of the typical obedient maid during the Victorian era. Instead, the Cook does everything in her power to annoy her mistress such as putting too much pepper in the Duchess’s soup, causing her to sneeze. Carroll writes, “The cook took the cauldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby--the fire-irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates, and dishes” (Chapter 6). This kind of behavior that Carroll displays in the Cook would be unthinkable and clearly unacceptable for a Victorian house maid during this time. The Cook is a particularly interesting character present in Alice’s dream because she is the only character who functions as the typical lower to middle class working figure. Based on the little that readers know about Alice’s social status, the assumption can be made that this type of occupation is one of the few that will be attainable for Alice in the future. Because of this, Carroll is critiquing the poor way in which maid servants are treated by their mistresses. Not only that, but the Cook is a representation of a strong woman defying authority in an attempt to take her power back from Victorian society.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Illustration from John Tenniel, published in 1865.
The third and final female character present in Wonderland and in Alice’s unconscious is the Queen of Hearts. The most significant aspect about the character of the Queen of Hearts is the relationship she has with her husband. The role of husband and wife that are usually present in Victorian society are switched in Alice’s dream as the husband is the dependent and submissive one who turns to the Queen of Hearts for permission, “My dear, I wish you would have this cat removed” (Carroll Chapter 8). Meanwhile, the Queen of Hearts is the one who makes all the decisions and the King’s power and masculinity is not even present in Alice’s dream. It is also important to note that Alice is only able to wake up and return home after standing up for herself against the Queen, “Who cares for you?.....you’re nothing but a stack of cards” (Carroll Chapter 12). Here, Alice ignores the intimidation factor of the Queen and is able to fight back and question authority instead of submitting to authority. This is another example of something that Victorian society would surely condemn.
The Actual Roles of Victorian Women While the Queen of Hearts is seen as the dominant partner in her marriage, this is not something that was often attainable for Victorian women. Although Carroll allows for unconventional models of Victorian women to form in Alice’s unconscious mind, the figures present in her dreams are nothing compared to the reality of the roles of actual Victorian women. This is evident in John Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies (1865) as he defines a clear division between the two sexes and places them in separate spheres with men being the “doer, discoverer, and defender” while women’s “true place and power is the home.” Carroll directly challenges Ruskin’s claim in a variety of ways in the novella. However, Carroll does this mainly through his depiction of Alice, who is discovering and defending a great deal throughout her adventure through Wonderland. Carroll’s portrayal of Alice’s curiosity throughout the novella highlights the willingness that Victorian women and young girls had to explore the masculine sphere that was a clear restriction to them. The depiction of the King of Hearts as a submissive and effeminate man also adds to Carroll’s critique of the stereotypical Victorian gender roles.
Ruskin, John. Sesame and Lilies.(London: Smith, Elder & Co.,1865).
The Cook is another unconventional female character who, when placed in the reality of Victorian society, would not be able to make a living by defying her mistress. Maid servants in Victorian England, rarely had a chance to marry unless they were placed with a wealthy family and had a chance to appeal to young men they may come in contact with while at work. In Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor, he classifies maid servants as having “no care or anxiety, no character worth speaking about to lose, for the origin of most of them is obscure, are fond of dress, and under these circumstances it cannot be wondered that they are as a body immoral and unchaste.” Carroll’s illustration of the Cook strongly rejects Mayhew’s portrayal of maid servants because the Cook had no desire to appeal to men or to dress and act like her mistress in order to advance socially.
Mayhew, Henry. London Labour and the London Poor. London: Griffin, Bohn & Co. 1862.
Childhood Dreams as Wish Fulfillment
With the portrayal of nonconforming female figures in Carroll’s novel juxtaposed with the actual roles of women in Victorian society, Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams (1899) strengthens the argument that Alice is redefining gender roles through her unconscious dreams. Although written three decades after Carroll’s novella, Freud’s claim of childhood dreams being a means of wish fulfillment is evident in Carroll’s novel. Freud writes, “I believe that the conscious wish becomes effective in exciting a dream only when it succeeds in arousing a similar unconscious wish which reinforces it/ I believe that these unconscious wishes are always active and ready to express themselves whenever they find an opportunity.” Freud’s interpretation of childhood dreams as wish fulfillment is evident in Carroll’s novella because Alice is able to become the nonconforming child and eventual young woman that she wants to be in her dreams. Alice’s conscious wishes during the day as a young child are able to come true in her unconscious mind as she goes on her adventure through Wonderland.
FREUD, SIGMUND. INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS. FLAME TREE Publishing, 2020.
Because Carroll allows for Alice to redefine gender traits and women’s roles through her dreams, the assumption can be made that Alice may be surrounded by women in her real life. The reason for this is because Alice does not allude to parental figures, or even call her sister by name. However, Alice references her cat Dinah multiple times which categorizes Alice as a lonely child who has a deeper connection with her cat than her family. Perhaps Alice does not have a father figure present in her life at all because in Wonderland only women are depicted as authority figures. Another interpretation could be that Alice has experienced some sort of trauma as a result of male authority figures, therefore she redefines the authority figures as women. Regardless, the childhood dreams of Alice put forth by Carroll are intriguing because it gives Alice a means of escapism through her own thoughts. Carroll’s novella is particularly complex because while he is critiquing gender roles and the actual expectations of women, he is also shedding light on childhood trauma through what appears in Alice's own dreams.
Anna Meredith is an Undergraduate English student at Holy Family University. She enjoys studying Victorian literature, Feminist literary criticism, and Queer theory. Some of her favorite authors include Mary Wollstonecraft, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Olive Schreiner.
Anna Meredith is an Undergraduate English student at Holy Family University. She enjoys studying Victorian literature, Feminist literary criticism, and Queer theory. Some of her favorite authors include Mary Wollstonecraft, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Olive Schreiner. 
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